


Seasons of Change

by iRockYourSocks



Series: What to Expect When You're Expecting [4]
Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Accidental Pregnancy, F/M, Modern AU
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-10-29
Updated: 2013-12-29
Packaged: 2017-12-30 17:35:54
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,525
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1021471
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/iRockYourSocks/pseuds/iRockYourSocks
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Nobody told her it would be this hard, but when she looks up into his honeyed gaze she forgets the whispers, the stares, the judgment, and she knows that even though things will never be normal again, she's okay with that as long as he's by her side.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The First: Late Summer

**Author's Note:**

> unbeta'd yolo

Katara turns to her left, then right, observing the soft, barely noticeable, swell to her stomach at every angle. She scrunches her nose, fingers gliding across smooth brown skin, and sighs. Her eyes flicker over to her bed where her friend lounges, twisting long brown hair around her littlest finger as her gaze moves along the lines of a maternity magazine fished out of her mother’s drawer.

“Oh! Look at this one! It’s not as bad as the others,” Ty Lee chirps, nail leaving a small crescent moon on the page. She curls the page around her hand, thumbing through previously dogeared pages. “This will look great on you in a couple of months, because well, _you know_.” Her shoulders lift up in a shrug sheepishly, eyes dart down at the cold glare she received.

The bed dips under Katara’s weight she she flops onto it, an exasperated groan escapes her parted lips. “Should I be afraid to look?” she asks, hand reaching for the magazine. She doesn’t want to look at the images, at the pictures of the women smiling down at their swollen abdomens, hands caressing their sides, the thrill of impending motherhood evident on their faces. Katara’s fingers subconsciously stroke her flat tummy, brows furrowed in concentration. The clothing wasn’t bad, not really, but then again who is looking for a fashion forward pregnant woman? “I guess it’s not bad, but it’s kind of uh, _early_ to be looking at that, don’t you think?” She tries to keep the hysteria out of her voice, tries to stay calm, but the truth is that she’s terrified of this, terrified of the changes her body will have to endure, terrified of how her relationship with Zuko will unfold.

She can feel Ty Lee’s round, grey eyes on her, but she ignores the question lingering in them. She doesn’t want to talk about the life growing in her, not right now at least. “You never told me about it.”

Katara props herself up on her elbows, brows pinched as she looks at her preoccupied friend. “What are you talking about.”

“You and Zuko. You never told me about it, aside from the fact that you liked him.” Katara should hear the burning curiosity buried underneath the forced indifference in Ty Lee’s voice and sighs. “I don’t even know how many times you guys did it, and I told you that I wanted to know what happened. For reasons.” She smiles, reaches for another magazine and waits. 

Katara groans, rolling onto her side. Her lashes brush the apples of her cheeks as she traces her fingers along the soft, blue cotton of her comforter. “We only did it once, at the park by the nature trail.” She blushes as memories of that night flood to the forefront of her mind. “It was...it was _nice_ , and he helped me redress and everything. I didn’t expect for that to happen.” She looks away, hand brushing her stomach. “Definitely didn’t expect this to happen,” she mutters under her breath, but she can’t bring herself to feel bitter about the unborn life inside of her.

Ty Lee’s full attention is on Katara, her grin widening as her grey eyes sparkled in mirth. “Was he any good? Because I know that he hasn’t had sex before, but he’s so strong and _gorgeous_ that I guess that he can do it without embarrassing himself, right? Wow, I can’t believe that _you’re_ the one he takes a roll in the hay with.” She sighs dreamily, rolling onto her back. “I wish somebody thought I was special enough for that.” She looks wistful, her normally sunny disposition clouding over before she looks over at Katara. “Uh, are you okay?”

Katara is not okay.

In fact, Katara might be going into shock.

Zuko didn’t tell her that he was a virgin, which may have made sense about why he was so reluctant to do it originally. In a way, it made her feel better that they were both equally inexperienced, and he knew about as much about it as she did.

It also explains his embarrassment at only having lasted three and a half minutes.

“H-he never told me he was a virgin,” she chokes out, a blush staining her cheeks. The way he touched her, made her tingle, she was sure that he had done something before- 

-yet she was the girl who stole his virginity and conceived from it.

It’s such a cruel stroke of fate, but maybe it’s something that needed to happen. She told herself the night it happened that she wouldn’t have any regrets and looking at how everything unfolded, she still doesn’t.

Ty Lee’s lips are moving, but the words float in and out of her mind until she snaps out of it. “-good? I mean, it couldn’t have been _bad_ because you’re really red right now which means you’re probably thinking about it. I can’t believe that you can even keep your hands to yourself because _have you seen him_ and-”

“Ty Lee please!” Katara grips her hair, eyes bulging at her friend. “Just because we haven’t had sex again doesn’t mean that we haven’t done...other _things_.” She fidgets, stands up and walks over to her mirror again.

She cringes at Ty Lee’s squeal and subsequent bombardment of questions.

 

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“So....”

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“How big was it?”

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“TY LEE!”

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She weaves her fingers through his inky hair, pulls his lower lip between her teeth, and all she can taste is jasmine and spices, a strange combination that she is hopelessly addicted to. His hands scorch her where they rest on her sides, and his breath is a hot puff on her cheek as her mouth finds the juncture of his neck and shoulder.

“Wait,” Zuko gasps, resting his forehead against her temple. “I think...I think we should stop.’’ His hands drop to the couch, fingers biting into the rough material.

Katara lifts her head, staring into his eyes, brow arched. “Why? What are you afraid of? Nothing _bad_ can come out of this.” She looks away when his fingers trace her stomach. “Zuko...you won’t hurt the baby,” she whispers.

She jumps when he presses his lips to hers briefly, leaning forward to prolong the contact until he broke away. “I can’t. I’m sorry.” She huffs when he nudges her off of his lap and pouts when he pulls his shirt back on, leaving a respectable amount of distance between the two of them.

“I haven’t told my uncle yet,” he murmurs, his eyes finding an interesting spot on the wall. “I don’t know how to tell him. I don’t want him to be disappointed after everything’s that’s happened before I came here.”

Katara clasps his hand in her smaller one, latticing their fingers together as she smiled. “I don’t think he’ll be disappointed. Shocked, maybe, but I can’t see it in him to be upset with you. It’s not like you’re leaving me alone to deal with this on my own or anything. You’re doing the right thing, and I think he’ll be proud of you for that.”

A rare smile graces his lips as he tackles her and sprinkles kisses along her jawline.

 

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“I still think we should stop, though.”

 

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School is fast approaching, summer almost gone, and Katara is a nervous wreck.

What if her schedule isn’t right?

What if she gets the hardest teachers?

What if she doesn’t have any of her friends in any of her classes?

How will everyone react when they find out that she’s pregnant?


	2. Progressing through the Second: Autumn

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> unbeta'd yolo

She looks into the familiar blue eyes of her brother, the same hue as hers but somehow sharper. It’s strange, because the feeling she gets when she’s near Sokka has to be similar to the way twins are even though they are a year apart. He knows when she’s in a good mood, when she wants to be left alone, and vice versa. She’s happy that she’s this close to her sibling, because there aren’t any secrets between them.

Sokka wasn’t too ecstatic when he found out that she was pregnant, even less thrilled when he learned the identity of the father (although he and Zuko have since made up after a mutual agreement following a bruised jaw and an overturned table in their living room), but he will _always_ be there for his little sister, be the shoulder to lean on when no one else is there. Sure, Katara is certain that her brother would have much rather preferred to become an uncle in five, ten, fifteen years, but he’s been more in-tune with her since finding out than he had been in a while.

He cups her shoulder after twisting the key out of the ignition. “You okay?” His eyes are searching, and she sighs. For as much as an idiot her brother can be, he sure is perceptive.

“It’s just,” she huffs, “I’m not even showing yet, and I already feel like crap.” She pouts, her bottom lip jutting out like a stubborn child.

Sokka smiles an easy grin, tugs on a loose strand of her hair. “This is what happens when you ignore me and have sex before you’re thirty.” He flinches in anticipation for the usual swift palm to the back of his head and glances over to see Katara’s lips pulling upward into a smile.

Her arms fling around his shoulders awkwardly as one elbow bumps the back of his seat and the other nearly grazes the steering wheel. “Even though you’re an idiot, I love you.”

He pats her head in typical Sokka fashion. “Yeah, yeah, love you too.”

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Katara swipes her fingers across her lips, grimacing at the foul taste in her mouth as she reaches up to flush the toilet. She leans her head against the cool plastic of the bathroom stall, tries to rest her shaking hands on her thighs. The reality of her situation was beginning to sink in; she prided herself in the fact that she hadn’t gotten ill in public yet, but the smell of the cardboard that the school tried to pass off as pizza made _something_ inside of her twist, and she had to quickly excuse herself to flee to the restroom.

She was lucky that there wasn’t anyone else in a neighboring stall when she rushed in, because she didn’t want to have to explain herself to _anybody_ until she was ready. Her fingers grasp at the phone in her pocket, swipe until a name that she needs to see appeared on the screen.

Her fingers twitch when they slide past Sokka’s name. She should probably text him, because he worries about her well being even if he tries to be nonchalant about it sometimes. Yes, Sokka _would_ be the right person to text.

Katara exhales, opens up a new message, and taps out a message.

-

She leans against her locker, brows furrowed in pain as she discreetly rubbed the side of her breast. They have been sensitive lately, and the fabric of her bra rubbing against them was extremely annoying considering she could hardly feel her bras a few months ago. She looks around for a familiar mop of hair turning a corner, chews her bottom lip when she doesn’t see him. Her brow furrows and her lips purse as she glances down at the text he’d sent telling her that he’d meet her at her locker.

Warm fingers ghost across her shoulder, and she whips around to see lopsided eyes and a crooked grin. “Where the hell have you been?” she hisses, fingers digging into the soft cotton of his shirt. He smells like his uncle’s teashop today, jasmine and teacakes and something unmistakably _Zuko_ that her mind blanks before focusing again. She blinks up at him, lips slipping into a pout. “I’ve been out here for—“

“—Thirty extra seconds,” he deadpans, eyes flicking to clock across the hall. “I told you I’d be here. What’s wrong?” His gaze trail down her torso, resting on her stomach. She sees his fingers twitch as though he yearns to touch her, but his hands stay at his sides.

Katara shakes her head, peeking up to try to catch his eye. “No, no _that’s_ fine. It’s _me_ who isn’t.” His eyes search her face in confusion. “I’m just, everything _sucks_!” Tears begin to well in her eyes. “My boobs hurt, I’m throwing up at all hours of the day, and if I’m not throwing up I’m peeing, I’m always tired, and _God_ I don’t know if I want to punch you in the face for making me wait or kiss you for coming.” She buries her face in his chest, the soft fabric of his shirt absorbing the moisture.

Zuko’s mouth opens then shuts, unsure of how to answer without accidentally setting her off. She had been moodier than usual lately, and considering that she _is_ Katara, that’s saying a lot; he has to pick and choose his battles, and he had a sinking feeling that he’d lose this one. It would probably be for the best if he didn’t say anything. “And you probably won’t like me anymore when I’m fat,” her muffled voice whispers, fingers clenching his sides like a vice. His warm hand rubs soothing circles on her lower back, and she lets out a moan.

“Do you want to ditch?” His free hand cups her cheek, lifts up her face to meet her eyes. “The day is almost over, anyway. Do you want to just leave now?” He tilts his forehead against hers, closes his eyes as he gently presses his lips to hers. “We can hang out. I don’t know, watch a movie or something.” 

Katara pulls away and grins, lacing her fingers through the hand on her cheek. She sniffs, watery eyes shimmering with gratefulness. “Zuko, ever so eloquent. I didn’t think you would be the one to ditch,” she teases, pulling him towards the exit.

“You _definitely_ don’t ditch,” he retorts after a pause, looking around before opening the door. She shrugs her shoulders, not glancing back in the hallway. 

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“Are you sure we’re allowed to be in here?” his voice floats through the empty hallway over the sounds of their footsteps. “I’m pretty sure this is illegal.”

Katara pecks his cheek and she skips away. “Not really; my Gran Gran’s friend owns the place, and she normally closes it when it doesn’t seem like a lot of people will show up.” She grips his hand tighter. “Come _on_ , Zuko; nobody is here, and nobody is going to come. I’m sure the owners are out doing something right now.” She nudges a door open with her hip and pulls him into the natatorium. “Plus, I want to swim.” Her lips quirk upwards as she digs the toe of her left foot into the heel of her right, kicking off her shoes. “Are you going to join me?” she tosses his way as she unbuttons her jeans and shimmies out of them.

He looks around the natatorium, the smell of chlorine invading his senses. It’s clean, the hard cement flooring painted a pale blue and the water serene and still. His eyes land of the stripping girl in front of him and he blushes. Zuko doesn’t stop shamelessly gawking at her until her shirt hits him in the face. “Hey! What was that for?” He was ignored, though, if the splash was any indication. “We _really_ shouldn’t be in here!” He glares at her submerged form. “This isn’t funny, Katara.”

Her head bobs out of the water, eyes sparkling with mirth. “Oh, come on, I’m just trying to have a little fun after my meltdown earlier.” At the look of his deadpan face, she sighs. “Just for a little while, okay? Then we can go back to your uncle’s house and watch movies on the couch.” She smiles up at him and lets out a breath she didn’t realize she was holding when he starts to undo his belt.

“Only for a little while,” he agrees as he reaches down to pull off his shoes. Katara is giddy, her stomach fluttering with a thousand butterflies at the thought of actually getting Zuko to do something fun, especially since he found out that she was pregnant. This victory is sweet, even better when his bare torso comes into view before he slides into the pool.

“It’s freezing,” he gasps, hands reaching up to wrap just below his shoulders. “How is this _not_ bothering you?”

Katara shrugs, sidling next to him. “You get used to it.” She splashes him with a wide arm gesture, the look of childish indignation on his face enough to make her burst out in a fit of giggles.

“This isn’t funny,” he hisses, his glare weakened by the wet, black fringe covering his eyes. “Stop laughing!”

“I’m sorry,” she chokes out between snorts of laughter. “You just, you look _so serious_ that it’s ridiculous!” She throws her head back in a howl of laughter that left little doubt that she was related to Sokka. Zuko growls, bottom lip jutting out into a pout. “That’s not helping your case,” she murmurs with a smile as she thumbs his mouth. She wraps her arms around his neck and nuzzles his chin. “Calm down, hot pants, I’m only teasing.” Her lips press into the hollow underneath his ear as she lets him go.

She cuts through the water, feeling it slipping across her fingertips. She was going to miss this, swimming freely without a care in the world. In a few months, she’ll be too big to comfortably do anything fun. She floats on her back, sighing.

She can hear Zuko swimming towards her. “Are you okay? Is anything, erm, bothering you?” His fingers trail along her sides until she starts to sink and rights herself on two feet.

“Yeah, it’s just that I won’t be able to do a lot of stuff in a few months.” She frowns, rests her forehead on his shoulder. She sighs, “This is going to be fun.” She feels him exhale beneath her.

“You won’t be alone.” Katara wraps her arms around his waist, tilts her head to swipe her tongue across his lips. She relishes in his shiver and groan.

“You know, we haven’t done it since that night at the park, you know.” She moves her mouth down his jawline to gently nibble on the skin of his neck.

“Yeah?” he responds dumbly, arms gone limp at his sides.

“Yeah,” she prods. “I want to do it again, like now.” Katara feels him freeze. “We’re all alone, and nobody will unexpectedly pop up.” She accentuates her words with kisses scattered across his collarbone. “I won’t want to do this when I’m huge,” she quietly warns, and she can feel the resistance seep out of his body.

“We’re in a pool,” he groans, thumbs brushing against the material of her bra.

Katara leans into his touch, presses her smile into his throat. “We can get out of the pool.” She pillows her mouth against his scarred cheek. “So is that a yes?”

Zuko’s fingers clumsily wrap around her waist as he slicks her lips with his tongue, wading towards the edge of the pool. His cool fingertips ease into the waistband of her panties, squeeze supple flesh.

Katara’s heart races, the frantic pumping of blood leaving a red flush from her cheeks to her collarbones. She gasps into his mouth the moment her back is pushed against the wall of the pool, his hands grasping at her waist and hoisting her out of the water and onto the ledge, pulling her panties down as dripping wet palms trail down her legs. He cups her thighs, spreads them around his body, scatters hot kisses across her hipbones.

Katara slides thin fingers through wet, inky hair, brushes it away from his forehead to press her lips against. She shudders when she feels his warm breath fan across her center, twisting her fingers in his dark locks in anticipation, but her stomach was fluttering nervously. “A-are you sure yo know what you’re doing?” she stammers, all prior confidence disappearing. He’s never put his mouth on her _there_ before, and she wasn’t too certain that he had any idea what he was doing. 

Zuko exhales and rests his forehead on her inner thigh. “Can I—can I try?” he whispers, lopsided eyes peeking up at her. She sighs, nodding her consent with a shaky smile. 

Her toes curl in the water when his mouth hovers over her—

—and she yanks the back of his head from in between her legs, panting into his red face. “Let’s, ah, let’s not do that again,” she mumbles into the skin of his scar. He rips his face away from hers, glances somewhere around her knee. From the bit of his profile that is visible from her position, she can see a vicious blush spreading across his cheeks and burning hot in the tips of his ears. “Did I offend you?” she asks incredulously, amusement evident in her voice.

He grunts, placing his hands around her ankles. “Shut up,” he mutters, lightly massaging the soles of her feet. 

She squishes his cheeks together, plants a kiss on his lips. She gently tugs on his bottom lip with her teeth, hands sliding to cup his jaw and pull him closer to her. He braces his palms on either side of her hips and hoists himself out of the water, causing Katara to scoot backwards with one hand braced against the floor. She moans into his mouth when her back touches the ground. There must be a tattoo on her chest by now, because her heart is pounding in her ribcage hard enough to leave a mark imprinted in her skin.

Her back arches when his hips come into contact with hers, a wet finger slipping into the crease at the apex of her thighs. Her back arches into his chest as he presses hot lips under her jaw, in the hollow of her throat.

The concrete at her back is uncomfortable when he slowly pushes into her, the roughness scratching into her back, but she can easily ignore the pain when she feels him stretching her like that. He slowly rocks his hips into hers, gentle, his hand cradling the side of her face like she is the most precious thing in the world to him. She touches her mouth to the smooth skin of the inside of his wrist, lightly grazes her teeth against him when her lips part on a sigh.

Her eyes slide over his face, and she doesn’t think she’s seen anything more beautiful than him. His face is flushed, bottom lip caught between his teeth, and his eyes gleam with so much adoration that Katara blushes.

Yes, she think she might love him—

—or maybe that’s just the sex talking. No, this isn’t _just_ sex, because the last time she found her limbs tangled with his was a frenzy of gnashing teeth, humid bodies, quick, fumbling hands, and heavy breathing. This time, _this time_ , is different, and she isn’t too sure of what caused the change, but she is sure of one thing.

She likes it.

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Katara rolls her eyes as Zuko runs his fingers through his hair. _Again_. “Relax, Zuko,” she sighs, shoving her thumbs in her back pockets. “It’ll be fine.” He puffs his cheeks out, expels all the air from his lungs before nodding.

“Yeah, yeah, I-yeah.” He swallows visibly, and she places a hand on his lower back, pushing him towards the door.

“Zuko, first off, you live here. Second, it’s _just_ your uncle. He’ll understand. He loves you.” She smiles up at him, and he grimaces.

“Not about stuff like this, Katara. I- _we_ \- fucked up. He’ll never forgive me for this.”He chews his bottom lip and casts his eyes to the side before exhaling. “Let’s get this over with.” He pulls his keys out of his jacket pocket and unlocks the door. “Uncle? I’m home.” 

Katara glares at his back as he steps through the threshold, because what the _hell_ did he mean by ‘ _let’s get this over with_?’ 

Asshole.

Just because he’s nervous gives him _no_ right to blow her off like that. She huffs before following him into the house, quietly closing the door behind her. Her lips threaten to tug into a smile at the sight of his uncle embracing him like it had been years since he’d last seen him, but that was just the nature of the pleasant old man.

“Ah, I almost didn’t see you hiding in the corner, Miss Katara,” he smiles, gesturing her to take a seat in the kitchen. “I wasn’t expecting your company today. Is something wrong?” His eyes flicker between her and Zuko. Normally when she comes over, she’s either with Sokka or Iroh isn’t home. She can practically see the cogs moving in his head. “Or is something _right_?”

Zuko clears his throat and looks at a potted plant on his left. “I know that this is sudden, and I know that this isn’t what you wanted from me, and I’m so, _so_ sorry, Uncle, but-but Katara’s pregnant a-and it’s mine. The baby’s mine.” His voice lowered as he finished his sentence, unable to face the one family member who gave a damn about him. Iroh’s thoughts on everything mattered to him, and even though Zuko didn’t always listen to the advice the old man gave him at first, he’ll come back to his words at a later time. He rests his forehead in his palm, breathing deeply.

Silence.

She imagines that this is what how he was when he first started living with his uncle, a boy physically and mentally scarred by his father wishing for approval. It’s heartbreaking that he can so easily revert to this person at the _thought_ of Iroh shaming him.

Katara knows for certain that Zuko truly believes that his uncle would be disappointed, furious even, but looking into Iroh’s gentle eyes she sees nothing but sympathy. He smiles at her and nods his head before wrapping his arms around his nephew. 

“While I am shocked that this has happened so soon, don’t think that I am upset with you. Accidents happen,” he murmurs in his ear, patting his hair down. “Zuko, I am not my brother. I’ll always love you, my nephew.”

Katara looks away, feeling like she was interrupting an intimate moment. Iroh straightens up, discreetly wipes at his eye. “I’m going to be a grandfather,” he whispers, clapping Zuko on the back. “I didn’t even know you were dating, nephew.” He winks at Katara, a chortle bubbling out of his throat. “And I didn’t expect you to date Sokka’s sister.”

She opens her mouth to corre t him that they were _not_ dating when Zuko stands up and moves towards her. His cheeks are flushed with what may be joy, may be embarrassment. “Yeah, she’s my girlfriend.”

Katara’s face brightens, breaks out into a wide grin, and she laces her fingers through his.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I warned you about the change in rating, right?
> 
> I am trying get this moving, but alas some things cannot be rushed (she is around 15 weeks, if you were wondering). Rather than four long chapters, I'm breaking it up. I know, I know, I tried to do it but I can't. This'll be a minimum of 7 chapters.
> 
> Updates are random, sorry 'bout that.
> 
> If you have questions, you can go to my **[tumblr](http://socksssss.tumblr.com)**. My askbox is always open

**Author's Note:**

> for **[shannon](http://songofhopeandhonor.tumblr.com)** and **[elle](http://xavalos.tumblr.com)** , because i love them and they always help me brainstorm
> 
> also, the chapters will probably get longer as she progresses through her pregnancy.
> 
> oh, and the rating is bound to change, just a fair warning!
> 
> thanks for reading!


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